Kingston Frontenacs GameDay April 8, 2016

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BILLY KIMMERLY The Kingston Frontenacs have maintained all along the team is looking for a long Ontario Hockey League playoff run. That, of course, has been said by past Kingston teams but this year’s version, after the 4-1 series win over the Oshawa Generals on Friday night, has rid the franchise of one bugaboo from the past. Head coach Paul McFarland’s Frontenacs became the first Kingston team since 1998 to win a playoff round — ending the longest drought in Canadian Hockey League history. The round 1, game 5 crowd at the Rogers K-Rock Centre began chanting ‘Go, Fronts, Go’ over the final two minutes as the Frontenacs closed out the series with authority, beating the Generals 6-0. “It was amazing. With a minute left we stood up and the fans got behind us,” McKeown said. “I know the city is as happy as we are about this win. Credit to them. They got behind us. They were awfully loud.” McKeown, Spencer Watson, Lucas Peressini, Lawson Crouse and Ryan Verbeek were Frontenacs who had come so agonizingly close to a series win in 2014 against Peterborough. The Petes came from three games down to win four straight. On Friday night the Frontenacs took care of business. “It was a special moment. I haven’t witnessed that at all in my four years here. Definitely huge,’’ Watson said. “I think all the boys really gave [the victory] to the fans. They deserve it.” McFarland said afterwards he congratulated the players on taking the first step in the playoffs. “It’s one step. We are going to enjoy it [Friday night] and then get ready for the next series,” McFarland said. “This group believes in each other. It’s a good first 36 KINGSTON FRONTENACS GAMEDAY MAGAZINE
step for us.” Last Friday the Frontenacs, after a 4-3 overtime loss in Oshawa Thursday, were in a position to win a playoff series before the home crowd for the first time since 1998 when Kingston beat the Oshawa Generals in a seventh game. Frontenacs assistant coach John Goodwin was the Generals head coach that season. On Friday, the Frontenacs had to fend off a robust first period from the Generals. They did so with the goaltending of Jeremy Helvig and the feisty return to the lineup of Kingston native Verbeek. Helvig stopped a penalty shot in the game’s first three minutes and Verbeek, after being a healthy scratch for two games, scored the only goal of the first period. Goals by Stephen Desrocher, Crouse, Watson and Warren Foegele blew it open in the second period. Foegele added his second of the game and eighth of the series in the third period. Watson finished with five points and Michael Dal Colle had four assists. It was Helvig’s penalty-shot stop on Anthony Cirelli that played an important part in the victory. “I just cleared my head for the penalty shot and made the save,” Helvig said. “I had to be ready and focused (for the game) and I was focused and ready for the big win.” As big as Helvig’s saves in the first period were, so, too, was the Verbeek goal. He was out of the lineup for two games after taking an undisciplined penalty in Game 2. Verbeek came back into the lineup with determination and grit. He tipped a shot by Jason Robertson past Jeremy Brodeur at 13:11 for what turned out to be the game-winner and series-winner. “To me that first one might have been the difference in the hockey game just because nothing was really going on and they were pressing,” McKeown said. “Beeker really got the momentum under us.” “Ryan was excellent. That’s how he has got to play each and every night,” McFarland said. “He was a difference maker. We’re going to win a lot of hockey games if he continues to play his position that way.” After the Verbeek goal and Helvig’s 11 saves got the Frontenacs out of the first up 1-0, the Frontenacs scored four goals in less than nine minutes in the second period to take over the game. “It was a tight first period and after that our momentum came,” Watson said. “Once we got the first goal (in the second period by Desrocher on a 5-on-3 advantage on a power play) the floodgates opened. It was a cool feeling.” OFFICIAL GAMEDAY PROGRAM, VOLUME 43, 2015 “That’s our takeover period,” McKeown said. “We want to get on teams, use our five-man forecheck. That’s the strength of our team.” “We talked about the second period being our takeover period all year. Our guys worked hard to learn how to play in the second period. Tonight was a great example,” McFarland said. McFarland said it was the complete game he expected by his team. “We’ve talked all year about being resillient and responding. Good teams don’t want to lose two games in a row in the playoffs,” he said. “There wasn’t one person in our dressing room or the Kingston Frontenacs organization family that doubted this team tonight. We knew we’d get the job done.” McFarland called a timeout in the second period when the Frontenacs were going on a 5-on-3 powerplay advantage. He said he wanted to give his power play unit a rest. “We knew it was going to be a crucial sticking point in the game. Out best guys capitalized and made a great play.” Desrocher’s first goal of the series made it 2-0. Crouse followed 43 seconds later with another powerplay goal on Brodeur. A couple of terrific pin-down shifts by Verbeek, Conor McGlynn, Cody Caron and then Ted Nichol, Ryan Cranford and Robertson allowed the Frontenacs to get two line changes against some tired Generals. Watson got loose in front and ended Brodeur’s night with his third goal of the series. Oshawa coach Bob Jones brought Justin Nichols in, hoping for a momentum switch. It didn’t work. Seven seconds after the Watson goal, Foegele greeted Nichols with a low shot to the corner. written by Doug Graham originally published in the Kingston Whig-Standard reprinted with permission 37 BILLY KIMMERLY
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Kingston Frontenacs GameDay April 8, 2016

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